Wisconsin State Journal, Dec. 13
Block the Asian carp with a concrete wall
Wildlife officials aren’t worried about voracious Asian carp invading the Wisconsin River north of Prairie du Sac because a large dam blocks their way.
A similar solution is needed in a shipping canal near Chicago so the invasive species doesn’t infest Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes.
Specifically, the Brandon Road Lock near Joliet, Illinois, should be shut down to separate the Mississippi River Basin from the Great Lakes, as nature intended.
The attorneys general of three Great Lakes states - Republican Bill Schuette of Michigan, Democrat Lori Swanson of Minnesota and Democrat Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania - last week urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Chicago to close the lock and replace it with a concrete structure.
That’s the most effective, least expensive and quickest solution to stopping the Asian carp from advancing farther north, the attorneys general correctly stressed.
Wisconsin officials should add their voices and clout to this bipartisan effort to protect the Midwest’s precious waterways.
Wisconsin was previously part of a lawsuit against the federal government seeking permanent closure of the Chicago canal, and it shouldn’t back down now.
Asian carp escaped decades ago from Southern fish farms and have been moving north ever since. In some northern Illinois waterways, Asian carp now make up 90 percent of the concentration of fish. With their large size and appetites, they crowd out and decimate the sport fish anglers love to catch, such as walleye and bass.
Even a relatively small number of Asian carp reaching Lake Michigan through the Chicago canal system could eventually spread across the Great Lakes. And the man-made canal leading from the Illinois River to Lake Michigan has shown vulnerabilities.
Electric shock barriers in the water have been breached by smaller fish, according to a federal study last year. And an adult bighead carp was caught last spring in the Chicago waterway well past the barriers and only 9 miles from Lake Michigan.
“In the absence of more effective action, they will move through the Brandon Road Lock and the Chicago waterway in sufficient numbers to ultimately invade the Great Lakes, causing devastating ecological and economic damage,” the attorneys general of Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania wrote last week to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
They’re right.
The Army Corps of Engineers has highlighted the potential cost to the shipping industry if products must travel over land rather than on barges in the canal. We understand that concern.
But the cost to the Great Lakes’ fishing and tourism industries would be much greater should Asian carp take over the world’s largest supply of fresh water.
The best solution is a permanent barrier that will stop the Asian carp for good.
___
The Journal Times of Racine, Dec. 13
State must support sprinklers for fire safety
Wisconsin’s Legislature needs to take a stand on fire safety; we hope it comes down on the side of saving lives.
In an opinion last week, state Attorney General Brad Schimel said the state cannot enforce a 7-year-old rule that fire sprinklers be required in new apartment buildings with three to 20 units.
Why not? Well, because Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP-controlled Legislature - in their drive to curb overactive restrictions by state agencies - passed a law limiting the ability of state agencies to pass rules that go beyond what is directly authorized by state law.
One of those state agencies, the Department of Safety and Professional Services, in 2008 had adopted regulations requiring fire-suppressing sprinkler systems in residential apartment buildings with three to 20 units - for all buildings built after Jan. 1, 2011.
At the time, the Wisconsin Builders Association challenged the new rule, but it was upheld by the state Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the agency had the power to set the regulation because it had broad authority in keeping buildings safe.
But when the Legislature restricted the ability of agencies to set regulations in 2011, the sprinkler law was caught up in the consequences. Under state law, not agency regulations, sprinkler systems are required in buildings with more than 20 units.
That set up some enforcement flip-flopping within the Walker administration. Earlier this year, the administration said it was considering dropping the rule, then backed off and said it would be enforced. Six months later, Walker’s DSPS said it didn’t think the rule was enforceable - and stopped enforcing it.
They asked Schimel for his opinion, which came down last week.
The back-and-forth over the agency regulation last summer triggered an expected response from state fire officials.
Milwaukee Fire Chief Mark Rohlfing told a Milwaukee newspaper in August: “To think we’re going to roll that back is disheartening. As firefighters, we know that sprinklers save lives. When you look at a building and you think ’What can I do for protecting that building and the people in it?’ the single most important component of that is a sprinkler system.”
He called on legislators to take up the issue directly. We echo that call.
Yes, we understand that sprinkler systems can add several thousands of dollars to the cost of apartment building construction. And, yes, we understand that a sprinkler system is not as sexy as an apartment pool or community building when marketing an apartment. But those don’t save lives - or save apartment owners the cost of reconstruction in the event of a fire, either.
Even the Wisconsin Builders Association has said they might have to compromise on the issue.
So fine. Tee it up again and sort it out. And when - hopefully soon - the Legislature does that, we would hope they keep in mind that the number of fires in the United States stood at around 3.2 million as recently as 1977. Fire deaths that year were 7,395 people. In 2015, according to the National Fire Prevention Association, the numbers had dropped to 1.3 million fires and 3,280 fire deaths.
That’s progress and the Legislature should keep us on the path toward reducing those numbers with a sprinkle of support.
___
Green Bay Press-Gazette, Dec. 16
Legislators should end ’dark store’ comparisons
A move by big-chain retailers to drive down their property bills in municipalities around the state simply doesn’t make sense.
Many of these retailers are using what’s being called a “dark store” theory. It works like this: They say their taxes assessments should be based on comparable stores, even if those stores are vacant, or “dark.”
Eau Claire-based Menards used the dark store theory this year when it sued the village of Howard over its 2017 assessment. The retailer opened its Howard store in 2012 on 18.6 acres, spending $10.6 million on land and buildings. The village assessed the store and property at $12.45 million; Menard Inc. said the assessment should be $5.8 million.
The retailer based this in part by comparing the Howard site, which is open and operational, to a closed Home Depot in Beaver Dam, a closed Sears in Sheboygan, and to the former Cub Foods on Green Bay’s east side, which had been closed since 2009. (Two stores have since moved into the Cub Foods building, but it was vacant at the time of the lawsuit being filed.)
The closed Cub Foods building was assessed about $40,000 a year in taxes; the tax bill for the Menards in Howard was about $209,000 for 2017.
Menards eventually dropped its lawsuit against Howard.
Yet the claim that an open big-chain retailer should be assessed the same as a store that has been closed for eight years doesn’t make any sense. Those vacant stores aren’t earning any income for retailers, but the open stores are. The vacant stores require very little police and fire protection; operational stores are a big user of those services. Infrastructure is added in communities to get customers, employees and goods to those stores, as well as heat and electricity.
This isn’t an isolated case. A USA Today Network-Wisconsin investigation found 130 “dark store” cases filed by big-box stores since 2014 against municipalities statewide. Of those cases, 67 are open. If each of those is settled, local governments would lose about $774 million in taxable property value, our analysis determined.
In Brown County, there are two open cases - a Walmart suit against Bellevue and a Woodman’s case against Howard. A Menard’s case in Bellevue was settled in 2016.
If the Menards’ suit in Howard had gone against the village, about $111,000 in school, village and county tax payments would have been refunded, including $55,000 from Howard-Suamico schools.
The tax burden would have fallen on the very people and communities that support the store.
Two bills - Senate bills 291 and 292 - would end the “dark property” comparison and clarify that lease agreements cannot be factored into property valuations.
The bills have bipartisan support in the Legislature, however, neither has been brought to the floor.
It’s time for the Legislature to protect taxpayers and homeowners.
Yes, businesses should be taxed fairly, but don’t base the tax assessment of a working store on that of a vacant, closed operation. It makes no sense.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.